As strange as it might seem, this week ushers in Week-4 of the High School Football season in Georgia. This is Part 2 of our previews which we like to call Eight Greats Around the State.
Our first preview takes a look at two teams who have not been shy about scheduling a challenging early season schedule. Crisp County’s defense has been lights out, but can they slow down the ELCA ground game this week in McDonough? Meanwhile, Hart County will look to pick up where they left off last week after a dominant performance. However, we expect Greater Atlanta Christian to have different plans. Greater Atlanta will have to slow down Malachi Thomas if they want to come back to Atlanta with a ‘W’.
Down in Valdosta, Lowndes will host Lee County as two of the top teams in class 6A & 7A matchup. Lee County has been dominant on defense, but Jacurri Brown and the Vikings will be a step up in competition. Finally, in Moultrie, the Colquitt County Packers will host the Valdosta Wildcats. We don’t like to speculate, but it looks like Valdosta may be without starting quarterback, Jake Garcia. Can the Wildcats offense continue to roll or will the Packers get the best of Valdosta this season?
As always, thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and share.
All helmet images are courtesy of the Georgia High School Helmet Project. To see all of their work, please visit: http://www.gahelmetproject.com
The Skinny
The ELCA Charges are coming off of their first loss of the season after they fell to 5-A Blessed Trinity. Josh Rogers led the way on the ground with 112 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. On the season, Rogers has rushed for 523 yards and 8-TDs. Quarterback Phil Massengale has also chipped in 204 yards and 3-TDs on the ground. The Charges have only attempted 21 passes this season. The 38 points that the defense allowed last week were the first points they surrendered all season.
The Crisp County Cougars continue with their brutal schedule this week as they travel to McDonough. The Cougars have been doing it with defense early in the season posting shutouts against Class 7-A Tift and Class 6-A Houston County. Linebackers Chris Paul Jr. and Preston Lavant lead the team with 20 total tackles each. The secondary has intercepted 6 passes, led by J’kobe Harris with 4. The Cougars have not necassirily lit up the scoreboard offensively, but they really haven’t needed to with the defense performing as it has been. A.J. Lofton leads the Cougars in rushing and passing yards while Marquise Palmer has received the bulk of the carries out of the backfield. We believe that this is the week that Crisp finally surrenders a few points on offense. We expect this game to be low scoring, but we think Crisp has one of the best defenses in Class 3A…And defense travels. We like Crisp by 6.
The Hart County Bulldogs got their first win of the season last week as they raced to 35 first half points in route to a 55-point outing. The Bulldogs had a big outing from Malachi Thomas who scored three times while J. Len Lackey scored twice. Hart County also got two special teams touchdowns and a pick 6 in the victory. Thomas has now accounted for seven TDs while Lackey has recorded 4-TDs. The Bulldogs are averaging 38 points per game, but are also allowing 33.6 points per game.
The Greater Atlanta Christian Spartans enter this week’s game undefeated. The Spartans will bring in a balanced attack with quarterback Deymon Flemming passing for 203 yards and 2-TDs on the season, while the offense has tallied 244 yards on the ground. Trey Henry and Gannon Hearst lead the team in rushing with a combined 204 yards on the ground. Perhaps the biggest story for the Spartans is the defense which has allowed just three points in their first two games of the season. Aidan Bailey and Joseph Rose lead the team in tackles. Bailey is also tops on the team with two sacks. The Spartans have intercepted 9 passes already on the season. The Greater Atlanta Christian defense will have their hands full trying to slow down the Bulldogs one-two punch in the backfield. If Hart County can take care of the football, we think they could be in line for a minor upset this week. We like their chances to beat GAC in a shootout and avenge last year’s playoff loss. We like the Bulldogs by 4.
The Skinny
The Skinny
The Lowndes Vikings will host the Lee County Trojans in another big game between South Georgia powers. The Vikings passed another test last week defeating Oakleaf out of Orange Park, FL. Jacurri Brown has thrown for 383 yards, rushed for 196 yards and accounted for 7-TDs this season. Running backs Justin Lee and Israel Mitchell have combined for 357 yards and 6-TDs. Leon Williams leads the defense with 5 sacks while Travion Pope and Jalon Baker lead the team in total tackles. The Vikings are averaging 39 points per game while the defense is averaging just over 14 points per game.
Lee County is also undefeated coming into this week’s game. The Trojans have outscored their opponents 110-0. With no disrespect to their first two opponents, Lowndes is certainly a step up for the Trojans. Chauncey Magwood looks to have settled in under center with South Carolina commit Caleb McDowell beside him in the backfield. The Trojans had 9 different players score TDs last week and they led 40 after the first quarter. The defense held Crawford County to -51 total yards. We don’t believe there is any chance that Lee County holds Lowndes to negative total offense or even shuts out the Vikings. We expect the Trojans to attempt to bottle up the Lowndes ground game. It should be a close game throughout, but we like Lowndes at home by a touchdown.
The Skinny
After having their first two games cancelled due to COVID, the Colquitt County Packers will host the Valdosta Wildcats in a battle of South Georgia powers. The Packers got their season off to a great start with a shutout win over Banneker. Senior quarterback Xavier Williams threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in the victory. Orion Bonner caught four passes for 100 yards while Dijmond Wheeler hauled in two touchdown passes. As a team, the Packers rushed for 138 yards and 4-TDs. Eight different ball carries had touches for the Pack on Friday with Nick Pace, Charlie Pace and Jamaree Hill leading the way in attempts.
The Valdosta Wildcats enter this game undefeated as well after knocking off Bainbridge last week. Perhaps the biggest story in this game is whether or not highly touted quarterback Jake Garcia will play for the Wildcats in this game. In his absence last week, Amari Jones threw for 182 yards and 3-TDs. Tajh Sanders and Aalah Brown combined for 7 catches and 125 yards. The Wildcats defense held Bainbridge to 135 total net yards. Valdosta also sacked Bainbridge 6 teams and intercepted two passes in the victory. This game could turn into a defensive struggle. We don’t expect Coach Propst and his Wildcats to have a warm welcome in Mack Tharpe. We like the Packers in a defensive battle. Colquitt by 4.